News

Man's relief at being cleared of sex charges

By Paul Cassell
January 07, 2013

A man accused of raping and indecently assaulting young girls has spoken of his relief after he was cleared by a jury.

Tim Pittway, 49, of Mermaid Close, Winnersh, and Paul Flynn, 30, of Bath Road, Reading, were among four men facing a total of 47 child sex charges.

The pair were acquitted on Monday, December 17 by the jury of all charges relating to the rape and sexual abuse of children following a seven-week trial at Winchester Crown Court.

Their co-defendants, Paul Thomas, 50, from Basingstoke, Hampshire, and Jerry Lee Howe, 40, from Accrington, Lancashire, were convicted of a total of 28 similar offences.

The trial heard the attacks spanned 15 years from the mid-1990s to 2010 and that the victims were abused separately at different times and locations.

After the hearing, Mr Pittway said: “I am just relieved. It has been a horrendous experience, and something I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy.

“If people have done something they deserve to get what happens to them, but I felt that it was like being hit over the back of the head with a cricket bat.

“You function but it is just the most awful thing to be accused of.

“You feel despair, it’s the worst feeling in the world. I just want to get my life back on track now.”

He recalled following his arrest and throughout the case he felt “dirty and horrible” and when he had been out, he was paranoid that people were watching him.

But he praised the police’s professionalism and while he insisted he did not want to be bitter towards the accusers, he believed lie detectors should form part of court cases.

“I do think one thing they should do is bring in lie detectors,” he said.

“There is an argument for them. They are not 100 per cent reliable but I think if they were used, it would give those that are wrongly accused some kind of chance in their case.”

Thomas and Howe were remanded in custody and will be sentenced on January 29.

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